What does "rhyme" mean?
Rhyming verse (poetic form)
Rhyme
/ɹaɪm/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Rhyming verse (poetic form)
- Grammar: rhyme is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: accord, agree, alba, alliterate.
- Useful contrasts: free verse, nonrhyming words, unrhymed verse.
- Usage evidence: Rhyme and meter form the essential rules of Chinese poetry.
How to use "rhyme"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "rhyme" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "rhyme" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "rhyme" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "rhyme" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Rhyming verse (poetic form) countable, uncountable
"Many editors say they don’t want stories written in rhyme these days."
- 2 a piece of poetry wordnet
- 3 A thought expressed in verse; a verse; a poem; a tale told in verse. countable, uncountable
"Tennyson’s rhymes"
- 4 correspondence in the sounds of two or more lines (especially final sounds) wordnet
- 5 A word that rhymes with another. countable
"Norse poetry is littered with rhymes like “sól … sunnan”."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A word that rhymes with another.; A word that rhymes with another, in that it is pronounced identically with the other word from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end. countable
""Awake" is a rhyme for "lake"."
- 7 Rhyming: sameness of letters or sounds of part of some words. uncountable
"The poem exhibits a peculiar form of rhyme."
- 8 The second part of a syllable, from the vowel on, as opposed to the onset. countable, uncountable
- 9 An instance of rapping; a rapped verse; a line or couple lines of rapping; a hip hop song. countable, informal, uncountable
"I heard Drake's new rhyme last night."
- 10 A rapper's oeuvre, lyricism or skill. broadly, countable, informal, uncountable
"His rhymes are all weak."
- 11 Number. countable, obsolete, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To compose or treat in verse; versify. ambitransitive
"Ha, ha, hovv vildely doth this Cynicke rime?"
- 2 compose rhymes wordnet
- 3 To place (a word or words) in such a way as to produce a rhyme or an approximation thereof. transitive
"Now she's tainted by the syringe Try to rhyme a word with orange"
- 4 be similar in sound, especially with respect to the last syllable wordnet
- 5 Of a word, to be pronounced identically with another from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end. intransitive
"Creation rhymes with integration and station."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To be pronounced identically from the vowel in the stressed syllable of each to the end of each. reciprocal
"Mug and rug rhyme."
- 7 To contain words that are pronounced identically to each other from the vowel in the stressed syllable to the end. intransitive, usually
"I rewrote the story to make it rhyme."
- 8 To somewhat resemble or correspond with. figuratively, intransitive
"In addition, the look rhymes with but inverts the meaning of the first silent look he gets instead of words when he asks Lucien in the photo shop if he remembers him, and Lucien shrugs his shoulders in denial."
- 9 To number; count; reckon. obsolete, transitive
Antonyms
free versenonrhyming wordsunrhymed verse
Example
"Rhyme and meter form the essential rules of Chinese poetry."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "rhyme"?
Common synonyms include: accord, agree, alba, alliterate, alliteration, anacreontic.
How do you use "rhyme" in a sentence?
Rhyme and meter form the essential rules of Chinese poetry.
How do you pronounce "rhyme"?
Pronounced /ɹaɪm/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English rim, rime, ryme (“identical letters or sounds in words from the vowel in their stressed syllables to their ends; measure, meter, rhythm; song, verse, etc., with rhyming lines”), from Anglo-Norman rime, ryme (“identical letters or sounds in words from the vowel in their stressed syllables to their ends; song, verse, etc., with rhyming lines”) (modern French rime); further etymology uncertain, possibly either: * from Latin rhythmus (“rhythm”), from Ancient Greek ῥῠθμός (rhŭthmós, “measured motion, rhythm; regular, repeating motion, vibration”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow; a stream”); or * borrowed from Frankish *rīm (“number, order, sequence, series, row of identical things”) (whence Old English rīm (“number, enumeration, series”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂rey- (“to arrange; to count”) and *h₂er- (“to fit, put together; to fix; to slot”). Cognates * Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”) * Dutch rijm (“rhyme”) * Middle Low German rīm (“rhyme”) * Old Frisian rīm (“number, amount, tale”) * Old High German rīm (“series, row, number”) (modern German Reim (“rhyme”)) * Old Irish rīm (“number”) * Old Norse rím (“calculation, calendar”) (Icelandic rím (“rhyme”), Norwegian rim (“rhyme”), Swedish rim (“rhyme”)) * Welsh rhif (“number”)
Etymology 2
From Middle English rimen, rymen, rim, rime (“to recite or write verse; to sing songs; to tell a story in verse; to fit into verse; (figurative) to agree, make sense”), from Anglo-Norman rimer, Middle French rimer, and Old French rimer (“to rhyme (a word) with another word; to write verse”) (modern French rimer), Old French rime, ryme (noun): see etymology 1. Cognates * Catalan rimar * Icelandic ríma * Italian rimar * Middle Dutch rīmen (modern Dutch rijmen) * Middle High German rīmen (modern German reimen) * Middle Low German rīmen * Old Danish rime (modern Danish rime) * Old Occitan rimar (“to rhyme (a word) with another word; to write verse”) * Old Swedish rima (modern Swedish rima) * Portuguese rimar * Spanish rimar